by James Oliphant
Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson is the latest candidate to fashion a network of high-powered legal minds to advise him on his campaign and, ostensibly, help shape legal policy should Thompson win the White House.
He follows Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, both of whom seemingly snatched up as many conservative bright lights as they could find. But Giuliani and Romney couldn’t nab everyone, and there are plenty of high-profile legal names backing Thompson.
The group is headed by co-chairs Victoria Toensing, Boris Feldman, and Charles Trost. Toensing is a tough-talking former Justice Department official in the Reagan administration who works as a defense lawyer in Washington alongside her husband, former U.S. attorney Joseph diGenova.
Her area of expertise is international terrorism (she founded the terrorism unit at Justice in the 1980s). Feldman is a New York large-firm lawyer who’s experienced in fending off shareholder class actions. Trost is a lawyer from Thompson’s home state of Tennessee.
Some of the other legal luminaries on Thompson’s committee include:
Bill Barr, the former attorney general under President George H.W. Bush and a now a vice president of Verizon Communications.
Viet Dinh, a professor at Georgetown University and a former Justice Department official responsible for some of the Bush administration’s most aggressive anti-terrorism policies.
Liz Cheney, a former State Department official and the daughter of the vice president.
Philip Perry, a former Homeland Security official and the son-in-law of the vice president.
R. Ted Cruz, a conservative rising star who currently serves as the solicitor general of Texas.
David McIntosh, a former congressman and an influential member of the powerful Federalist Society (as is Spencer Abraham, a former secretary of energy).
Rachel Brand, another senior Justice Department official who played a key role in the administration’s judicial nominees.
John Dowd, a veteran Washington D.C. lawyer best known for heading up the investigation into the gambling activities of baseball legend Pete Rose.
Eugene Volokh, a law professor and widely-read legal blogger.
The group will simply be known as Lawyers for Fred. Just like the candidate, no fancy talk here.
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Comments
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Posted by: John E | November 19, 2007 2:08 PM
Lawyers for Frederick of Hollywood is more like it.
Will they script his speeches for good ol boy Fred?
This is a great rogues' gallery. Phillip Perry, once council to the Homeland Security department, is owned by the Chemical industry. Liz Cheney, HIS WIFE, trades on her family name. Viet Dinh wrote the wonder "Patriot" act.
With friends like this, old Fred is just more Bush.
So if you like where we are now, Fred is your guy!
Posted by: athena | November 19, 2007 4:25 PM
Here's Freddie's campaign. Lots of smoke, no forward motion;
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/photopost/showphoto.php/?photo=50496
Posted by: TheReamer | November 19, 2007 9:18 PM